MASON MOUNT looks and feels different following a summer which has changed his life permanently.
The new haircut for a brand new season is a coincidence.
The sentiment that 43 days between the finals of the Champions League and Euro 2020 have transformed him is not.
One game ended with Mount’s hands on the biggest prize in club football.
The second with a hug from his father and the message to remain proud in defeat to Italy.
Both occasions have had a lasting impact on a player who was a rookie barely two years ago and is now considered the dynamic heartbeat of Chelsea and England.
Mount, 22, is taking unforgettable experiences from the summer of 2021 with him as he plans for many more years of success with club and country.
He said: “It was a long, long season. I think I ended up playing nearly 70 games in total.
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“It all came down to that one game with England and you know that after that one match, the season’s done.
“It didn’t finish the way we wanted it to and I felt emotionally drained afterwards.
“When you go through the experiences I have with the Champions League then straight to meeting up with the England squad, being in camp with the boys for over a month and going through what we went through, character-wise, on and off the pitch, you grow up.
“For us at Chelsea to win the Champions League and go through that whole campaign and go all the way was just unbelievable.
“That night was probably one of the best nights of my life.
“To go from that high to meeting up with England, knowing what we were going into, the hard work we put in and how much the country was behind us.
It didn’t finish the way we wanted it to and I felt emotionally drained afterwards
Mason Mount on the 2020/21 season
“Plus the atmosphere every time we played at Wembley or even away in Rome, it was special. I will treasure it.
“Of course, there was disappointment, heartache. But I went into the stands, where ten of my family were waiting and they told me we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves. We had done something no England team had achieved before.
“There was no expectation for us to get that far. My dad just told that now it was time to rest — and recover.”
Providing the assist for Kai Havertz to score the only goal of Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Manchester City in the Champions League final confirmed his place as a key member of a young team outstripping all expectations.
Two years and two days prior to that night in Porto, Mount tasted defeat with Derby in the Championship play-off final.
He is yet to win a final at Wembley with two FA Cup losses to go with the night England went down on penalties to Roberto Mancini’s Italians in the Euro final.
But people learn most about themselves in the hard times. And Mount is only just getting started on his mission to win every trophy there is.
He said: “None of it can be called a bad experience. It’s my third year here now and every year you grow.
“Every off-season you look at what you can improve on. So you come in for the new season fresh and ready to go again.
“Ready to attack it. And with the team we’ve got, we can definitely build on what we achieved last year and do more.
“Something that has changed is we have a special bond now. Playing teams like Real Madrid, City in the final. Atletico Madrid, Porto.
“All those teams brought different obstacles and we got past them all. We created history and won the biggest club competition.
“As people we are the same, if not even more hungry for more success because winning something makes you want to win more and get that feeling again.
“There are still trophies we haven’t won for a couple of years and that starts with the Premier League. I want more trophies — I want them all.”
Just three weeks to recharge and Mount is back as the linchpin for Chelsea.
Time to grab a holiday with the family but with football in the blood, beach kickabouts were soon on the agenda.
Down-time is when people take stock and when your nearest and dearest help put things into perspective, win or lose. Mount said: “We all went to Greece.
“And for a couple of days I had to babysit my niece. She has only just turned one.
“Everybody was either sunbathing or having a sleep in the villa so I had to look after her.
“It was a special moment because it was her very first holiday although thankfully I didn’t have to go anywhere near a nappy.
“I couldn’t do that. I’d rather face the most difficult player on the planet.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
